As a business owner we wear many hats which leads to juggling many different tasks all at the same time. Quite often this includes juggling family life too.
Some people are very good at this and others really struggle with it. Which one are you?
Managing that “struggle to juggle” can be verrrry stressful.
Does it stress you out?
Step 1: What causes the stress?
Usually it’s the feeling that you aren’t getting everything done that you need to, and this is made worse by everything swimming around your head.
So, get all those tasks down on to a piece of paper (or similar online task list).
Now get really clear about what definitely has to happen versus what you’ve decided has to happen.
For instance you may want to get your blog done, respond to a client, finish some billable work off, get your invoices out, check your bank balance, write a talk and so on.
Not all of those things will have a definitive deadline of today. You will be telling yourself they do but they don’t.
I’m guilty of this a lot.
As soon as I feel myself getting to the “struggle to juggle” point I work out exactly what does have a definitive deadline and the list instantly halves and the stress starts to melt away too.
Step 2: Challenge your definition of the scope
Next I challenge how much work I think is involved in the client aspects.
It’s very normal to over-interpret what you need to deliver. This is good as you delight your clients but it’s not so good as you probably didn’t price in the level of value you’ll end up delivering and it’ll take you longer.
So, get very clear on what exactly you need to deliver to meet your client’s requirements. Again, that will reduce your work load.
Step 3: Delegate if possible
Now you want to challenge yourself to see if someone else can do part of your things to do list.
If you don’t have a team then do get yourself a VA. They are worth their weight in gold! You’ll be surprised what you can hand over to them.
If you have family-related tasks to do see if those can be handed over to someone else in the family.
Step 4: Re-plan your list
Now you have reassessed what needs to happen when, how much you need to deliver, and if you can hand it over to someone else you can re-plan when it’s all going to happen.
No matter what happens the outcome of this cannot be the same as when you started the process. If that happens you haven’t challenged yourself enough to sort it out.
It really is that simple
You have total control over your “struggle to juggle”. If you want to stop the struggle then get a grip of that list!
Loved this blog then check out my Red Bull For Your Business Productivity Workshop